July Up North: A Recap

How the 100th Cherry Festival, the semiquincentennial, and the wildfire smoke affected tourism during the busiest month of the year

By Art Bukowski | Aug. 22, 2026

When it comes to tourism and the business it supports, the Grand Traverse region has forever alternated between very busy summers and much quieter cooler months. While an uptick in shoulder season and winter visits have taken the edge off this whiplash in recent years, summer remains the undisputed king.

Most businesses will tell you no month in summer is more important than July. Throngs of people headed Up North select that most prime of summer months for their vacations, and this year was expected to be a doozy with the 100th National Cherry Festival and 250th birthday of the United States of America on the calendar.

Northern Express checked around to see how July panned out, and the answers range from good to the best ever, depending on who you ask.

Traverse City Tourism

Trevor Tkach is president and CEO of Traverse City Tourism. He doesn’t yet have hotel stay data for July, but says that the month appeared to be roughly on par or slightly above previous Julys in terms of the numbers of visitors “in market” as tracked by their cell phones (yes, they can do that).

In many ways it was a tale of two halves. The Fourth of July traffic in particular was very strong, he says, but everything took a turn when Canadian wildfire smoke poured in for a week.

“We started off on such a high clip with the Cherry Festival, and then just about a week later we were hit with that smoke, which was as thick as fog in Traverse City,” Tkach says. “I did hear from a number of our lodging members that they were experiencing a lot of cancellations.”

It was, unfortunately, one of those rare occurrences where northern Michigan isn’t the retreat it normally is.

“You weren’t really escaping the smoke by coming north; it was just as thick or even worse than the big cities downstate,” he says. “And you hate to see it happen any time of the year, but it really put the brakes on just as we were starting to get momentum.”

Overall, though, considering concerns about high gas prices—and higher prices in general—Tkach can’t complain. Though he had heard anecdotally that downtown businesses were doing well, the expectation is that higher prices across the board would keep most wallets a little tighter.

“People have been spending a little bit less on their trips in some fashion, whether it’s choosing to go to the grocery store instead of going to a restaurant or maybe not spending as much on products while they’re in market,” he says. “They’re just being a little more frugal.”

Local Businesses

If there was frugality, it certainly didn’t impact everyone. Bill Golden, owner of Downtown Traverse City staple Golden Shoes, says this July was simply gangbusters.

“It was the best ever,” he says. “Cherry Festival was good, but this is my 45th year doing this, and I’ve never seen the last two weeks of July busier.”

That translated to the two best sales weeks in the shop’s history, Golden says. He’s still marveling at those crowds.

“You couldn’t see the sidewalk, there were so many people on it. It looked like Manhattan,” he says. “Back in the ’80s, you’d wish for rainy days. Now it doesn’t even matter anymore. It can be 90 degrees and sunny, but they’re still down here.”

The smoky days actually increased business, Golden says, as people were more inclined to shop than engage in outdoor activities.

Adrienne Brunette is a co-founder and co-owner of Honest Hospitality, which owns Mama Lu’s and The Flying Noodle in downtown Traverse City and The Burrow in Greilickville. She echoed Golden’s sentiments.

“I felt like it was really busy, and I think the weather definitely had something to do with it,” she says. “We’ve had really a perfect summer outside of that blip of smoke. We definitely felt that in a negative way, but otherwise it’s been super busy.”

This summer has been nice in that they’ve also seen far more of their local customers than they’d usually see in the summertime, Brunette says. All of it has added up to a lot of money in the till. “At the Burrow, [late July] was our busiest week in the history of the restaurant in terms of revenue,” she says.

National Cherry Festival

As a non-gated festival, the Cherry Festival is never able to say just how many people attended. But Executive Director Kat Paye says the action-packed Fourth of July—which included fireworks and a drone show—was one for the record books.

This is true literally in the case of the Bay Area Transportation Authority (BATA), which set a single-day ridership record of 7,126 riders on July 4. (BATA provides shuttles to and from the festival.)

“I’ve never, ever seen it so busy on the Fourth of July. It was incredible,” Paye says. “Every area had lines, and I’ve never seen a line that long out of the souvenir tent.”

The week-long festival usually orders more shirts or other merchandise on Wednesday on an as needed basis, but did so on Monday after being cleaned out the Fourth of July weekend. Sales of other items were also strong.

The rest of the festival (July 4 was opening day) seemed about average in terms of attendance, Paye says. She’s glad the wildfire smoke held off until the festival had wrapped.

“We consider ourselves blessed every day to get to do the best job in the world, which is to celebrate our favorite fruit and events in Traverse City,” she says. “And for whatever reason, Mother Nature always seems to be on our side. We love that.”

Photo credit: John Russell - Great Lakes Images